A "falling star"
or a "shooting star" has nothing at all to do with a star! These
amazing streaks of light you can sometimes see in the night sky are caused by
tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into the Earth's
atmosphere and burning up. The short-lived trail of light the burning meteoroid
produces is called a meteor. Meteors are commonly called falling stars or
shooting stars. If any part of the meteoroid survives burning up and actually
hits the Earth, that remaining bit is then called a meteorite.

At certain times of year,
you are likely to see a great number of meteors in the night sky. These events
are called meteor showers and they occur when the Earth passes through the
trail of debris left by a comet as it orbits the Sun. These showers are given
names based on the constellation present in the sky from which they appear to
originate. For example, the Perseids Meteor Shower, or Perseids, appear to
originate in the constellation Perseus.

It is important to
understand that the meteoroids (and therefore the meteors) do not really
originate from the constellations or any of the stars in the constellations.
Associating the shower name with the region of the sky they seem to come from helps
astronomers know where to look! For example, the
Perseids are a meteor shower caused by the particles of the Swift-Tuttle comet
entering our atmosphere.

The timing of this entering
has shifted slightly since the first observation by Chinese and Greek
astronomers millennia ago. The best night to observe the Perseids is now two
days later, but Italians don’t let modern science detract from the romance (and
superstition) surrounding this popular holiday, also known as "Night Wish".

"St. Lawrence's night "
has roots in Catholicism. Saint Lawrence was martyred on the night of August
10th in the third century AD. The shooting stars seen on this same night in the
centuries following his death are said to be “tears of Saint Lawrence”, which
are suspended in the cosmos for eternity and descend to earth just once a year.
Those who take a moment to reflect on the Saint’s sufferings and repeat the
incantation,“ Star, my pretty Star, I wish...” on that night will be granted
their desire.

“St. Lawrence's night” has
roots in paganism. Centuries before Lawrence walked the earth, ancient
sky-gazers had noted the annual star shower and attributed it to the fertility
god Priapus, protector of livestock, orchards, gardens…

According to Plutarch, each
year on August 10th a grand procession took place to honor Priapus and the
fields were "baptized" with a mixture of water, honey, and wine, that
ensured the land’s fertility.

Alongside Priapus, the
ancients grouped together Pan, Dionysus, Lupercus, Faunus and the Etruscan
divinity Acca Larentia, protectress of the poor and of agricultural fertility.
It’s an easy leap from Larentia to Lorenzo, and the modern “tears of San
Lorenzo” are quite probably the last lingering vestiges of the celebrations
honoring Larentia and her fertile colleagues.